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The team that can be consistent - for the most part all year - is going to be the team that is going to get into the playoffs.
The thing that got me to change was when my kids would come and tell me I was swearing on TV, so I knew I wanted to make a change.
The great thing about David Poile and Nashville is they believe in the people that they hire and they stick with the people that they hire.
My oldest daughter got married, she had a wedding in Hawaii and a reception in Nashville, and in between I had a Cup date in Dauphin, Manitoba.
Injuries happen every season. We can't rely on that being a crutch. It's up to all of us to do our best to fill those voids as coaches and players.
In an 82-game season, you're going to have some dry spells where goals are harder to come by, and other times they're just going to come in bundles.
You go the whole distance as a player, the last thing you probably want is the coach to say, 'Okay, you've gone this far, I'm going to take you out.'
You get mentally fatigued and you get physically fatigued, too. Usually that's when bad things happen on the ice and then you're more at risk for injury.
Use your assets in the right areas. Commit to outside speed. Don't always go into the junk pile in the middle of the ice when there are eight guys there.
You make mental notes. You're a coach, so you make mental notes from matchups, to who steps up in the playoffs to who doesn't, different types of players.
The great thing about the Island is you've got room. You can go for a bike ride. We're 20 minutes to a beach, and you can get on the beach and go for a long walk.
One of the things you look for is leadership, and it comes in different forms. There's vocal leaders, there's quiet leaders, there's leaders that lead by example.
Hopefully when I make it to 80, I can go to a hockey game and watch the Predators and Capitals play with my grandkids. That's probably my legacy on the hockey side.
I'm an Islander. I appreciate the ownership and the fans and the players, the trainers, coaches, all the people that were involved and the success that we had together.
As a coach, you look for the elements. Sort of like a chemist, you want to say, 'Okay, here we have all of the parts,' and make what you think will be a successful line.
I think anytime you experience the All-Star Games, the World Cups, the Olympics and all those things - those are great experiences, and those don't come along that often.
You need balance, and if you have dynamic people - I've always tried to assess the talent and say, 'Okay, how can we get better as a group and how can we win hockey games?'
If you're going to be a championship-caliber team or a threat to be a championship-caliber team you have to play a 200-foot game and you have to produce on both ends of the ice.
The guys who don't get a lot of minutes, you get a lot more practice, you're on the ice, you're getting maybe a better workout, though you might not be getting all of the game stuff.
Sometimes when you start playing games you don't get as many practices and you don't get as many touches. People think you have the puck the whole time during a game - you really don't.
I think a lot of times what practice can do for you when guys are playing a lot of minutes, it sometimes takes away a little bit of their sharpness, because they have the puck a lot and all that.
Goal scorers are always sniffing things out, but once they realize 'hey, if I don't have the puck I can't score,' then you have to be a part of the solution so you can get it back so you can score.
Obviously my former place in Washington, you got stars like Alex Ovechkin. Those are great challenges because you're looking at a player who does something very unique and trying to grow him in areas.
I'm a big believer that if you can have success in the playoffs, when it means the most and when the game is at its highest pace, it always carries into the next year and it gives a player confidence.
I think I have a lot more respect for someone who will be bold enough to say, 'I'm the leader of the hockey team, we're going to go there and give our best game and we're going to win the hockey game.'
There's times where I go off the rails like anybody else. For the most part, I try to keep it, 'Hey, this is what we're dealt and this is the situation, so let's make the best of it.' Keep a positive attitude.
I've been watching the growth of Auston Matthews, for instance. If he were playing 20 years ago, we'd be saying he's Mario Lemieux-like. He's 6-foot-5. He skates great. He's got unbelievable hands and a hockey IQ.
One thing I've learned from all my time with Team Canada is that they're very, very prepared so knowing that's part of the DNA of Team Canada, you have to be prepared with whatever area your responsibility belongs to.
You're looking for that prototypical second-line center man. They're not out there. They're just not out there. No one's selling them. No one's giving them away. So we have to produce our own. That's the best way to do it.
I have that look like I'm going to tear your head off. As a younger guy, I think I had that look even more and had a reputation for being in your face a lot, but as I've gotten older I think I've filtered some of that out.
Part of the greatness of being on the Island is it's a smaller community; all of the players live within a couple miles of each other. It really promotes that family sort of atmosphere without being engulfed by the big city.
One of the blessings of Notre Dame is where it's at. It's in the middle of nowhere, but you become part of the community. It's a lifestyle, and it has a code, and that code teaches young men and women responsibility and leadership.
Every player is wired differently. Some players you know exactly where they're headed, where they're going and what they're thinking. There are other guys wired differently. It allowed me to understand the personality of Alexander Ovechkin.
What happens when you have to use your top guys so much, they're going to hit a wall at some point, and they'll go four or five games where they just don't have the juice to play at the level that you need, and therefore your team suffers a little bit.
I have a list of stuff I need to do during the day. I try to do a couple of hours of professional stuff, be it hockey stuff I haven't gotten to the last little while, husband stuff, everything to repairing stuff around the house that I neglected around the winter.
There are a couple things that I could be doing, maybe owning a coffee shop or work in construction, building houses back in Nashville or British Columbia. I've also thought about being a property owner which would give me income and allow me to fix and maintain those properties to keep me busy.
Hopefully my time in Nashville has helped me. We've had a lot of different things happen to our hockey club, seen a lot of different situations and different types of clubs from an expansion team to a Stanley Cup playoff threat. I think any coach that's gone through those things, you become a better coach.
We might have, with Hockey Canada, an Aero Bar, a chocolate bar. 'Okay we're going to play for this chocolate bar.' Here you have guys who made millions of dollars, they're professional athletes, and they will fight tooth and nail to win. It's not necessarily for the chocolate bar. It's the competitive spirit.
The Kings played out of the Memorial Community Centre, an old wooden barn like you'd see in other Prairie towns. It was built after World War II and the Kings were the biggest thing in town. The Memorial was packed for every game - maybe 3,000 when we'd play the Kenora Muskies or other rival towns. It seemed like everyone in town came out to games.
I was really happy with Mike [Green]. Not only was he contributing offensively, but he was really making good plays, good decisions. Defensively, he was really strong. For a debut, I didn’t know how he would be just coming off a little bit of an injury. He was real strong. I’m glad he got through that. I think he’s looking forward to a good season now.